Does anyone else think it’s funny that during the offseason and at the trade deadline every year, EVERY YEAR!, people think John Paxson is going to make a blockbuster trade? The Bulls have been rumored to be KG’s next home since the days when “blockbuster” meant sending Jay Williams and Marcus Fizer to Minnesota. There are a few things that never seem to change in Chicago sports, 1) the Cubs will never win, 2) people will always love every member of the 85’ Bears, and 3) Garnett trade rumors will never die.

You would think by now, people would get the point. John Paxson is not going to mortgage the future of the franchise for one player. To paraphrase Rick Pitino: “Kevin Garnett is not walking through that door. Kobe Bryant is not walking through that door.” Face it guys, the Bulls are who they are. The group Paxson has assembled the last five years is the group the Bulls will enter next season with, like it or not. During a period in sports where youth seems to valued now more then ever, GM’s would rather start a baseball team with Jose Reyes then Alex Rodriguez, it seems the Bulls youngsters don’t garner the same respect their peers do. Even well respected basketball people like Henry Abbott and Bill Simmons still think the Bulls should have dealt Deng for Pau Gasol last season (and people forget, but Memphis wanted Deng and Gordo for Gasol, which would be right up there with Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir as the worst trade of the 00’s).

Even without the blockbuster trade that is never going to happen, Paxson and the Bulls have done a nice job this offseason. I may be in the minority of liking the Noah pick, but he’ll have an immediate impact on the team. He’ll make all the hustle plays, grab key rebounds, throw down some monstrous dunks, be entertaining in interviews, and will finally give the Bulls someone taller then 6’9. Sure, he’s not an ideal low post scorer, but to obtain one, Paxson would have had to sell off at least two of his top four pieces-Hinrich, Deng, Gordon, and Tyrus- and that price is just too steep.

I think resigning Nocioni at 5 years for 38 million was a good deal, too. The Bulls need a fourth guy who can score, and when healthy, Noce is perfect in that role. How many times did you hear people say, “the Bulls can’t win if one of the big three is having an off night?. Well Noce is a guy who averaged 15 ppg last year, and can carry an offense when he’s hot. People often times falls into the trap of only remembering what they saw last- and Noce was awful in the playoffs this year. But remember what he did at the beginning of this past season, when he may have been the teams best player, and remember how dominant he was in the playoffs before. Seven million dollars a year won’t cripple the Bulls financially and they can still get extensions for Deng and Gordon done, either this summer or next summer. The resigning definitely isn’t a slam dunk, though, as Matt from the great Blog-A-Bull pointed out:

Nocioni gets a 5 year commitment before Luol Deng or Ben Gordon. Considering Pax has repeatedly expressed a desire (echoing the sentiment of the entire NBA-watching world) to acquire a big-time scoring power forward, and Tyrus Thomas is still on the team, they're now committing roughly $7-8m a season on the 3rd best PF and backup for the 10 minutes Luol Deng isn't on the floor. There is now very little roster flexibility, as Pax has shown an unwillingness (correctly or not) to deal Hinrich, Deng, or Gordon. Can't deal Wallace. The guys on rookie contracts can't get much in return due to cap restraints on trades. Upon putting ink to paper, Nocioni automatically becomes an unwanted contract to whatever team wants to unload one of their better players, who usually look for picks, prospects, or expiring contracts. (Although maybe that means all these ideas of a Nocioni sign/trade for Gasol,Kobe,KG,etc. were far fetched for that very same reason.) Pax says "He's one of those guys who have helped change a lot of things around here in terms of how we go about business". Well that's fine. But 'the culture' is changed already, and there's no need to reward that with future earnings. Now what you should be going about in your business is contending for a title. That means upgrading the power forward position by getting guys better than Nocioni.

As for what the Bulls will do in free agency, it looks to be nothing spectacular. They missed out on Darko but have roughly $7.5 million to spend on inside scoring help. The three names most prominently being mentioned are Chris Mihm, Mikki Moore, and Joe Smith. Mihm, a former Bulls draft pick who they then traded for Jamal Crawford, seems to be the most likely option. He was hurt most of last season with the Lakers, but he is big, and can score a little bit. If the Bulls had their choice, Joe Smith would probably be their starting power forward next year. Phili is trying hard to resign him after they acquired him in the Iverson deal last season. Mikki Moore seems to have the most upside, as he really came on strong last season with Nenad Kristic out. The Bulls will end up with one of those three players, and possibly PJ Brown again next season. That’s fine with me, as long as Tyrus improves enough where he can be counted on consistently. So far so good for Tyrus, as he scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds, had four blocks and three steals in the Bulls summer league victory over the Bobcats on Tuesday. He (obviously) can’t be counted on for that type of consistent production throughout the season, but the more consistent he is, the more he’ll be on the floor. Good things happened for the Bulls last year when Tyrus was out there; he could be the X factor for next season.

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